Images of the Civil War: The Paintings of Mort Kunstler
Text by James M. McPherson
The Civil War was, without question, the most profound and traumatic experience in American history. This book, as James M. McPherson explains in his introduction, "seeks to tell the story of the war, its causes, and its significance, in a narrative format that conveys the political and social as well as the military dimensions of the conflict. The narrative tries to present the human as well as the larger impersonal forces of the war. But prose is a limited medium for capturing emotions and passions, the drama of suffering or of triumph, the elation of victory and the despair of defeat, the images of pain or of happiness. To convey these crucial facets of a people at war, one picture is indeed worth a thousand words. That is why artists from Winslow Homer to Mort Kunstler have painted the scenes and people of America's bloodiest war. The seventy-two magnificent paintings by Mort Kunstler reproduced in this book form the focus of the story for which the words provide the context. Together, words and pictures present an image intended to deepen and enrich the reader's understanding of the most important event in American history."

With a highly readable text, contemporary maps, and more than seventy accurate, dramatically composed paintings by Mort Kunstler that record the key events, battles, and personalities of the War Between the States, Images of the Civil War is a handsome and important book.